Opinion
No. 02-08-184-CV
Delivered: June 19, 2008.
Appealed from the 48th District Court of Tarrant County.
PANEL D: DAUPHINOT, HOLMAN, and GARDNER, JJ.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.4.
Appellant Wilbert L. Clewis filed a notice of appeal on May 2, 2008 complaining of a judgment signed December 5, 2007. In response to our letter expressing our concern that we had no jurisdiction because his notice of appeal was untimely, Mr. Clewis responded, among other things, that he had filed a fourth amended petition on September 14, 2007 by which his wife, Appellant Rose M. Clewis, became a party to the trial, and that the trial court dismissed the petition on February 21, 2008. Therefore, he claimed, they both were filing a restricted appeal. Appellants also filed a supplemental notice of appeal. Neither the December 5, 2007 "final judgment" nor the trial court's February 21, 2008 order mentions Appellant Rose M. Clewis or the fourth amended petition. We therefore notified Appellants of our concern that we lack jurisdiction over this appeal because the December 5, 2007 "final judgment" does not dispose of all parties and issues in the case. We indicated that this case would be dismissed for want of jurisdiction if the parties did not show grounds for continuing the appeal or file a copy of a final judgment disposing of all parties and issues by May 28, 2008.
Appellants responded that the trial court orally dismissed the fourth amended petition on February 21, 2008, and that the oral rendition makes the judgment final as to all parties and issues. The time for perfecting an appeal in a civil case runs from a signed judgment or order, not an oral rendition. Accordingly, because neither the December 5, 2007 "final judgment" nor the trial court's February 21, 2008 order is a final judgment disposing of all parties and issues, we dismiss this appeal for want of jurisdiction.
See TEX. R. APP. P. 26.1.
See Lehmann v. Har — Con Corp., 39 S.W.3d 191, 195 (Tex. 2001) (providing general rule that an appeal may be taken only from a final judgment).
See TEX. R. APP. P. 42.3(a), 43.2(f).